- Good Balance of Design and Size
- Windows Operating System
- Bluetooth Support
- Short Battery Life Because of 3-cell Battery
- Touchpad Button Difficult to Use
- Intel Atom N270 Mobile Processor
- 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
- 80GB SATA Hard Drive
- 10-inch WSVGA (1024x600) Wide LCD Display with 1.3MP Webcam
- Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
- Fast Ethernet, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0
- Three USB 2.0, 4-in-1 Card Reader
- 10.2" x 7.1" x 1.2" @ 2.3 lbs.
- Windows XP Home
8/21/08 - Many of the netbooks on the market are extremely small. This brings with it compromises on things like the keyboards and trackpads. The MSI Wind U100 has one of the better laid out keyboard designs on the market. This is great for those that are looking to potentially work on it for extended time frames. The trackpad is also of a reasonable size but they made an interesting choice for the button. Instead of two buttons, the trackpad has a single button design that is used by pressing one side or the other for the two presses. This can be confusing for many people to use.
MSI has chosen to use a 10-inch format for the Wind U100. This makes the system a bit larger than average. As mentioned they keyboard is larger because of this. The 10-inch screen is also easier to read than the normal 8.9-inch screen. In fact, their LED backlit display is one of the best available in the netbook market. Even with the larger dimensions, the Wind has relatively small dimensions. Part of this comes from the fact that it ships with a 3-cell battery to keep its weight to a low 2.3 pounds. The drawback to this is a shorter battery life.
The Wind U100-035US model comes equipped with a Windows XP Home operating system. This gives the system great flexibility in being used just like a traditional laptop with applications similar to the desktop. Because the OS requires a bit more than Linux versions, MSI includes an 80GB hard drive to store the user partition along with a recovery partition. It runs smoothly even with the 1GB of memory but it could use a bit more. While it is possible to upgrade the memory, the whole case has to be opened which voids all warranties.
Overall, the MSI Wind U100 is a good balance between features and size that make it a solid choice for those looking at a netbook.
